My two college girls are doing well. Oldest is doing an engineering internship in SD this summer. I was able to spend about a week with her when UA let out, but she'll fly straight back from internship to school without a return visit. I'm planning a trip to go see her a few weeks after classes begin. My second girl chose to stay on campus for the first half of the summer and take two classes. She is working on her apps for the upper division Nursing program right now. Now that her summer classes are done she is back to lifeguarding and being the nanny for a local family. That's been her go to jobs for the last couple of summers.

Thanks for the suggestion and help. I did have a blood clot ruled out. Going to my Family Pracitioner next week for a work-up on this and some other issues.

I feel like I'm turning 40 this year and falling apart, lol. Lately I notice that by the end of the day my left leg is pretty achy, heavy, and swollen from the knee down. I am reasonably healthy and active. I carry a few extra pounds, bmi 25ish. It concerns me that it is only in the one leg. Just met insurance deductible for the year, so I'd like to do anything and everything I can health wise. Thanks for any thoughts.

I have a 9yo dd. We live in South Carolina. She'd enjoy a penpal. Feel free to PM

I lost my stepdad to cancer three weeks ago. It was a devastating process, especially the last two weeks. He wanted to pass at home so we had hospice. They came in for an hour or so each day, but the remainder of the care was up to us siblings (my mom was not physically able). I only skimmed the above, but dramatic aging and weight loss, fluctuating emotional states, and then dealing with the physical realities of limited mobility and eventually being bed bound were all hard. Please feel free to pm with any questions or if you need to chat. Sending positive thoughts your way.

Seeking both suggested read alouds and independent readers which would mesh reasonably well with MOH Vol 4. My DD is a rising 4th grader, but a solid reader. I'm seeking titles which would be generally appropriate for grades 4-6. Open to both individual title suggestions or a packaged curriculum suggestion. Thanks in advance for any help! I'd love to include a biography or two and have a mix between high interest stories that are fun/light and classic, can't miss favorites.

My dh is a high school science teacher in the public schools, but we have used DIVE with all of our kids at home. The "ICP" course replaced "Physical Science" several years ago. It is a great course for an acc. 8th grader or a more average 9th grader. It's a great introduction to high school level work. It gives an overview of just enough chem/physics. The chem concepts will be slightly helpful in better understanding some Bio topics and that way the student has a bit of background when they tackled true Chem and Physics later on in high school. An acc 9th grade student with a strong science and math background could safely skip it and begin the sequence with Bio. If you're trying to compare DIVE to Apologia directly, ICP is a close match for Apologia's Physical Science class. DIVE has syllabi that correlate with Apologia so it's possible to use Apologia as your spine book for textbook readings and get instruction, labs, etc from DIVE. We like DIVE b/c it is a combo of readings and lectures. The DIVE testing requires students to synthesize information from both sources, similar to what you encounter in a college or university setting. It was great prep. for my older kids in that regard.

LOF Calculus was the only book in the series that was not a big hit here. My older two dd's used and loved Fractions through to Trig., had great comprehension, and tested well. Our oldest is super mathy and decided to pre-study Calc before her first dual-enrollment class. She got about 2 chapters in and completely stalled, even after seeking out some supplementary resources. She then pulled A's in Calc 1 and Calc 2 at the university. She has since gone on to use Stats and Linear Algebra and did great with those. Calc was the only dud here.

We are huge fans of LOF but the exception to that is Calculus. Our very mathy dd who sailed through Pre-Alg to Trig with LOF detested the Calc. book. She had wanted to work on it at home for a semester prior to dual-enrollment. In college she used the Stewart text that is very popular with many schools and had a great experience. Someone makes video lectures for it if a live class isn't an option.

Wow! I had never heard of having multiple vals or sals. I graduated with a class of over 800 (largest high school in my state) and we still had only 1 val. Locally where we live now classes are also large, 500ish. They name 1 val and 1 sal. Both speak at graduation. GPA's are weighted but the race is often very tight and comes down to tenths or even hundredths of a point. Yes many/most top students here end up with above 4.0 b/c of weighting of AP/DE/IB classes. If there is a tie I believe it comes down to faculty/admin vote. Will check with dh as he teaches in county.

Our state is this way. Students cannot receive credit without testing. They don't do pass/fail though. The grade received on the exam becomes the transcript grade. You are required to receive a 70 to receive credit at all. If there is a compelling circumstance prompting the change, then it may be worth it. Honestly, unless the student scores well it does have the potential to damage admission chances. I've advised mine that beyond 8th we won't make such a change unless there was an important change in circumstance for this reason.

Just wanted to say that a local friend and I have been doing this since January. She is a veteran of the first two programs (and in great shape) but I had never used them. They are 30 minute workout videos of many varieties (upper body strength, lower body strength, cardios, yoga/flexibility types). There are 12 total and a few standalones you can by. They are scheduled for you with a couple of alternatives emphasis on strength, emphasis on lean cardio, emphasis on bulk. We did a 12 week cycle of basic strength and are now doing a 12 week cycle of the lean cardio. We still do strength, just less of it. Pros: 30 minute intense workouts, variety keeps me from boredom, am stronger for sure Cons: doing the basic program I bulked up a bit (not my intention) although I did tone some, didn't see weight loss. Very little equipment is required just hand weights and pull-up bar, a few other extras, but not necessary. I like the lean schedule better. When doing the classic I added in some extra jogging on my own before I saw any weight loss. PM if you have specific questions.

I would definitely to an Intermediate Alg. if available. I've had two students take dual-enrollment math courses but both had completed Alg. 2 at home already. If College Alg is the only choice you could do a quick review via ALEKS this summer. ALEKS offers an Intermediate Alg. It's intuitive so it won't force your child to review unnecessarily. Our second child used it for a refresher this fall prior to College Alg in the spring and has been really successful. The success has actually reawakened her interest in math! If I had rushed her into the C.A. class last fall as originally planned I think she would have ended up stressed.

How wonderful! Rejoicing for your family!

I was thinking last week that it would be interesting to have a decisions thread! Great idea! Our oldest decided on UA where she'll be studying engineering. There were many reasons. Financially it was a great option b/c of significant merit money. She LOVES the campus and it feels like a good social fit for her. I had some reservations about academic fit to be honest. But, dd has done lots of dual-enrollment at a public uni. already and seems to thrive by being at the top end of her classes academically. She will be part of the honors college at Alabama and that will have some neat opportunities and perks. I do wish it were slightly closer to home. It'll be about a 5.5 hour drive. She's already connected with some other students though and with her roommate. She's pretty good at making friends and settling in usually. She's not apprehensive about the distance.